March 28, 2006

Manotti's Run Earns Accolades at Wrestling Nationals

By | March 28, 2006

Two weekends ago, on Saturday March 18, senior wrestler Dustin Manotti let something go that seemed a little out of character. As the third period ran out in Manotti’s last match as a member of the Cornell wrestling team, Manotti slipped the world a smile. And unlike he might have thought, wrestling in the shadow of legends such as Travis Lee ’05 and legends in the making like freshman Troy Nickerson, the world actually took notice.

After Manotti stripped off his red ankle bands after finishing third in the 157-pound bracket of the national tournament in Oklahoma City, Okla., he quietly saluted the small gathering of Cornell faithful congregated in the far northeast corner of the Ford Center. After his hand was raised by the referee, Manotti then pointed to the sky and with smile on face, walked solemnly towards the locker room.

What happened next might have made the best moment of the 76th annual national wrestling championships.

Manotti, a four-time All-American, was greeted with a standing ovation from the 16,000-plus inside the arena that was filled with Oklahomans, travelers from Minnesota, and wrestling enthusiasts, many of whom probably only know of Cornell University in part thanks to Manotti’s efforts over his career – a career that has landed the Mifflinburg, Pa., native among Cornell’s all-time greatest.

“I was extremely happy,” Manotti said. “I kind of heard the announcer say all the names of the guys I had beaten and I recognized it and put my hands up. I appreciate it.”

The standing ovation came at the end of a career that saw Manotti win an Ivy League Rookie of the Year award in 2003, All-Ivy Second Team Honors three times, All-Ivy First Team once and finish second in Cornell wrestling history with 135 total wins. It has been a career that has seen him win quietly, with no EIWA championship or national title on his resume. That is why it wasn’t surprising that Manotti, during his third-place finish ceremony where he was awarded his trophy, was rudely overshadowed on the podium by the local favorite, Oklahoma State’s Johny Hendricks, who had just beaten Michigan’s Ryan Churella just before the handing out of Manotti’s medal.

If the crowd didn’t give Manotti his well-deserved standing ovation because of his outstanding career, then it only makes sense that they all rose to their feet because of his accomplishments at the 2006 national championships that InterMat wrestle’s Jason Bryant called so “remarkable,” it might have been considered at first to be impossible.

After being knocked out by Harvard’s Andrew Flanagan in the EIWA championship match when a wild elbow struck him in the head after Flanagan attempted to escape from a double-leg takedown, Manotti seemed sluggish at the start in Oklahoma City as he was eventually upset in the first round of the national tournament by Oregon State’s Tony Hook.

It looked as if Manotti’s fate would be sealed early in the tournament after six of the tournament’s top-12 seeded wrestlers were also upset on Day 1 of competition. Former All-Americans such as West Virginia’s Matt Lebe, Wisconsin’s Craig Henning, and Iowa’s Joe Johnston all stood in Manotti’s way to making it back through the consolation bracket. It could have been real easy for the communication major to fold.

With his fourth All-America honor in jeopardy and hanging by a string, all Manotti did was blaze a torrid path of destruction, defeating the tournament’s No. 9,8, 3 and 4 seeds before easily disposing of the No. 1 seed, Iowa State’s Trent Paulson, to earn third place, his highest finish ever at wrestling’s big dance.

“It was really touching,” said head coach Rob Koll. “I don’t think anybody has ever done what he did. A lot of people think that he doesn’t really care about winning with the way he carries himself, because he doesn’t show much emotion, but I think he showed everyone what he is made of. He showed everyone that he cares about wrestling and about winning when he won his fourth All-America honor. It’s great they finally recognized his accomplishments.”

And recognize his accomplishments they did. From fans in the oxygen seats to famous media personnel on media row, everyone finally recognized the accomplished Dustin Manotti.

Jeff Harrison of the wrestling recap might have put it best.

“It’s nice to finally see Manotti get some attention,” he said.

Tim Kuhls is a Sun Assistant Sports Editor. That’s Kuhls, Baby will appear every other Tuesday this semester.

Related

ByMarch 29, 2006

“It’s a violation of state law to have sexual contact without consent,” said Tompkins County District Attorney Gwen Wilkinson at a public meeting addressing issues of rape and sexual violence on campus. “The Undercurrents of Gender-Based Violence on Campus” included short speeches by Wilkinson, victim advocates and several survivors.

“Sexual assault is so prevalent on college campuses, but it’s not really talked about at all. It’s kept very hush-hush,” said Adriane Bracciale ’07, president of Students Acting for Gender Equality and the organizer of the event. “It happens, and it’s real, and it happens to people [Cornell students] know, and there’s no shame in being a victim of sexual assault.”

“A lot of women who have been raped don’t realize it for six months, or a year, or five years or ten years,” said one of the survivors, who wished to remain anonymous.

She said that women are seen as objects in today’s society, and by society’s standards rape is often considered okay.

ByMarch 29, 2006

Last Friday, exactly two months after sophomore Khaliq Gant suffered a neck injury while practicing with the men’s basketball team, three of his teammates arrived in Atlanta, the final destination of a Spring Break road trip. Traveling with two of their housemates, juniors Graham Dow, Kevin App and Jason Mitchell made their way down the East Coast to see Gant for the first time since visiting him in ICU at the Arnot Odgen Medical Center in Elimra, N.Y.

“It was just nice to see him, because we hadn’t seen him since he was kind of immobilized and couldn’t move,” App said. “He’s made tremendous progress.”

Khaliq suffered two dislocated vertebrate in a collision during practice on Jan. 24. In surgery three days later, bone from his hip was used to fuse the C-4 and C-5 vertebrate back together. Since Feb. 2, he has been at the Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta, Ga., where he has undergoing rehabilitation to regain movement.

After three weeks at Shepherd, Khaliq had regained movement in his limbs and extremities. And as of six days ago, he showed his teammates that he is able to walk again.

“We went out to eat, and he had to go to the bathroom,” App said. “He got up [and] with his dad’s helped, walked to the bathroom. I think he was showing off for us a little, but it was definitely nice to see.”

His friends from Cornell made the visit just in time – one week later and they would have missed seeing Khaliq’s room at Shepherd. On Friday, he will move into an apartment two blocks from the center with his father. For four to six weeks after the move, Khaliq will attend intensive therapy at Shepherd for seven hours a day.

While Khaliq has been enjoying what he calls his “extended vacation” in Atlanta, this visit marked the first opportunity for him to reconnect with his teammates and friends beyond phone calls and emails. The travelers had made the decision to make Khaliq’s new home a Spring Break destination months ago.

“It was never really a question – as soon as he got hurt, we were just like, ‘Oh, for Spring Break we’ll go down and see him,'” App said. “It’s nice, since on our team we’re from all over, we just kind of made stops at our houses along the way.”

While driving through App’s native state of Maryland and then South Carolina, which Mitchell calls home, Dow said the group felt “a lot of excitement.” Once they arrived at Shepherd, the reunited teammates fell back into familiar habits, catching up and going out to dinner with Khaliq’s father, as well as going with Khaliq to physical therapy.

“It was great,” said Dean Gant, Khaliq’s father. “They enjoyed seeing him, he enjoyed seeing them. We went out to eat and had a great time. They picked up right where they left off with the rapport and the banter.”

The visitors were impressed with how Khaliq interacted with other residents at Shephard – constantly stopping to talk to people and sharing laughs with other patients. Every new friend the Cornell group met had another story about their teammate, including a tale about Khaliq organizing wheelchair races down the hallways.

“We were laughing about it, because we said he’s like the mayor of the place – he just goes around and he knows everybody,” App said. “That was kind of fun to see, that he’s enjoying himself there.”

Khaliq also took his friends to a rehab session, where they watched him perform exercises to improve his walking ability and helped him with activities like throwing a ball to develop his motor skills.

“It was fun to hang out, catching up,” Dow said. “It was like we were on a team again. He was doing most of the work for sure, we were just there to support him if he needed it.